


Solar Flare

by deepestfathoms



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe, Big Sister Rapunzel, Crying, Heterochromia, Memory Loss, Mother Hen Rapunzel, Multi, Not Beta Read, Power Exchange, Rewrite, Young!Cassandra, blame, it makes sense if you read it i swear, not as in age play as in Cass literally gets turned into a child, raps takes one look at lil cass and is like ‘my baby now’
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestfathoms/pseuds/deepestfathoms
Summary: When the Moonstone and Sundrop are brought together, Zhan Tiri makes one last attack.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Solar Flare

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what to call this AU yet, but this is just a test fic! Let me know if you like it and would want to see more!

The ancient demoness was not about to be defeated by hair. As the blinding glow blooming from her wrists grew brighter and stronger, she knew she only had a few moments to make her decision, so she wheeled around on her unsteady tendrils and aimed her gaze at the shuddering form of the ex-bearer of the Moonstone.

Nobody could see what she was doing- it was much too bright to know her movements weren’t one of a struggle. Because she was struggling, yes, struggling with the unrelenting energy surging before her talons and struggling with the knowledge of nearing obliteration, but she wasn’t struggling with this.

Curses were never a difficult thing for Zhan Tiri.

And, after all, the Moonstone did rightfully belong to the girl.

—

When the burning white light whipping throughout the courtyard ruins faded, Rapunzel set her gaze upon the beautiful gold and blue gem hovering before her. Pascal cooed in awe on her shoulder and she broke out in a huge grin.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” She murmured, hearing whispers all below her of shock and amazement. Her smile only grew bigger. “Cass, we did it!”

She spun around to see her best friend’s reaction, and instead just saw a circular nest of black rocks shielding the area where Cassandra had once been.

In an instant, Rapunzel’s smile is gone, quickly replaced with a horrified frown. She wanted to run to the rocks and tear them all down with her bear hands, but she couldn’t move. She could only stare as dread spilled through her gut like a thick, dark oil spill.

“What’s going on?”

Eugene’s voice sounded from her left- he and the others are making their way up what’s left of the stairs to formerly see the jewel up close, but, instead, were now getting the terrible sight of the lingering stones.

“Why—” Eugene swung his head from side to side. “I’m not the only one who sees no other spikes, right?”

“No, there’s none left.” Lance assured him, along with a few other scattered agreements.

“Then…why are these…?” Rapunzel murmured.

Slowly, she took a step towards the stones- nothing happens, so she takes another, and another, and another, until she’s right in front off an obsidian black point.

“Cass?” She called out.

No answer.

“Cass!”

Nothing. No grunt or groan or sarcastic-Cassandra-remark; just…nothing.

Rapunzel’s heart began to beat painfully fast inside of her chest. The thought of Cassandra turning on her again and leaving these horrible earthly daggers as a warning was terrible enough, but the sword hanging over her head was the fear of Cassandra perishing in the blast. The poor girl had already been wrung dry, her hand probably still wasn’t in the best shape, and she even had a gaping, charred, black hole in her chest! How had Rapunzel been so blind? She should have made Cassandra hide somewhere, but it’s too late because—

“ _Mmm…!_ ”

Right before tears could start to fall, a noise- a _whimper_ sliced through Rapunzel’s clouded breakdown like a silver sword. She looked up sharply and tried to peer into the nest, but there were way too many rocks to see inside. Her heart rate stutters for just a moment, then continues beating wildly once again.

“Cass?” Rapunzel called out desperately. She didn’t want to touch the rocks, she didn’t want to start everything all over again, she didn’t even want her hair back (it’s been giving her quite the neck pain for awhile), but she didn’t want to go on without Cassandra even more.

“Did you guys hear that?” She asked for confirmation first, looking around at her impromptu army.

“Was that…?” Eugene tilted his head.

“Cassandra?” Varian finished for him.

Rapunzel couldn’t take it anymore- she needed her best friend in her arms _now_.

She held out her hand, closed her eyes, and—

_Crack-crack-crack_

That was the sound of blue spiderwebs spreading rapidly through the black rocks when Rapunzel’s hand was mere inches away from its surface. She stepped back in surprise and Pascal chitters anxiously on her shoulder as the stones around the front break and crumple away into tiny ebony shards, letting sunlight leak down onto the girl inside.

“Cass-!!”

Rapunzel’s cry died quickly on her lips. She halted her forward stride to her best friend and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. The girl inside the nest of rocks was much too small to be Cassandra…

“Cass…?”

Eugene stepped beside his girlfriend and peered inside, followed by Varian and Lance, and they all had the same expression as the princess- absolute confusion and bewilderment.

“Was Cassandra always that short?” Eugene asked in a shoddy attempt to lighten the tense mood.

“Dear?” The Queen called out in concern. “What’s wrong?”

A few of others, like the brotherhood and two girls, were starting to inch their way to check out the view, while others didn’t dare get near the things that destroyed their home and sent them into this disaster.

“Something’s wrong with…”

The girl inside the rocks stirred, and the first thing Rapunzel notices is the glistening black rock shards stretching out from her arms before they jolt back into her body, leaving thin trails of blood trickling down before the skin rapidly mends itself. Then, she notices her hair.

The girl’s hair is the same raven black color as Cassandra’s, and even had the same length and tangles and bedhead style, but electric blue was creeping out from the roots and spilling through several gnarled locks.

The hair was just a kickstart, however.

This girl was just a child, only looking to be around nine, maybe ten. She was so pale her skin was almost translucent, too, and she was awfully skinny and small. As she awoke, she gripped the cracked ground with tiny little hands, one of which was charred black. The other bore nails the color of bruises, and perhaps they were just bruises, but they could also very well be the rocks that seem to course through her body, just lurking in her hands for their command to be released.

Everyone was still as the child sat up weakly, her thin arms shaking from that exertion alone. She collapsed during her first attempt, landing hard with a pitiful cry. The rocks around her shudder and retreat into the ground, and gasps sound all around from the people who hadn’t been able to see in.

A second attempt is made and, this time, the little girl is able to get up to her knees, although she’s still swaying. She has her back to Rapunzel and the others, and it appears she didn’t seem to notice anyone. But then she turns around very slowly and lays one Storm grey eye and one electric blue eye on the people around her.

Scream.

The child is _screaming_. It’s a terrible, heartbreaking sound, and watching her scamper into a pile of rubble and huddle against in it fear makes it even worse. But when she begins to cry out for her mother is the icing on the cake.

Rapunzel is the one who began to approach Cassandra- and now she knew for sure it was Cassandra. Everyone else, aside from her mother, Eugene, Lance, and Varian, all looked like they wanted to put the girl’s head on a spike and feed her remaining body parts to pigs. Still, even Rapunzel’s warm, friendly aura couldn’t calm down the child, who was starting to spiral into a full blown anxiety attack.

“Hey, hey,” Rapunzel murmured, kneeling down just two feet away from Cassandra. “Cass, it’s me. It’s Rapunzel.”

Cassandra cowered beneath her fearfully. It was hard for Rapunzel to look into that blue eye.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Cass. You know that.” Rapunzel tried again.

“I-I don’t know who you are!” Cass cried. Tears etched rivulets of anguish down her pale cheeks. “Where am I? Where’s my mama? I want my mama!”

Rapunzel was stricken. She extended her hands to hug Cass and the girl _shrieks_. She throws herself to the ground, shielding her head with her arms, and _begged_ Rapunzel not to hurt her, exclaiming that she was sorry.

“Hey, Cassandra.” Eugene has went to his girlfriend’s aid, kneeling beside her. “Nobody is going to hurt you…” He glanced around them- several people were hefting their weapons in their hands as if they were asking the crying girl for a reason to harm her. “You’re safe here.” He dared to add.

“No, no, no, no—” Cassandra babbled in terror. Her discolored fingers curl into her hair and pull as she shakes her head against the ground.

“…She was de-aged somehow.” Rapunzel whispered to Eugene. “Kinda like when we were in The House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.”

“…But worse.” Eugene whispered back grimly. He looked down at Cass’ trembling form worriedly. “What happened?”

“…I don’t know! I thought everything was okay after we-…” Rapunzel’s words died off as Cassandra suddenly flung herself to her feet and began to run. “Cass!!”

The child didn’t get very far- several people jumped in her path with their weapons ready, clearly not caring if she was just a little girl. They only wanted to spill her blood in return for the destruction of their home and the murder of some of their people in that occurrence.

“Stop! Stop!” Rapunzel cried.

Cassandra looked around wildly and then made a beeline for Arianna. She clings to the woman’s dress, apparently finding the adult woman’s presence nurturing and safe. However, she didn’t think the same for her husband, which she met rather quickly when he protectively drove his boot into her stomach.

“Dad!” Rapunzel yelled.

“Frederic!” Arianna scolded.

Rapunzel propped Cassandra up in her arms as the girl gasped and wheezed from being kicked in the stomach. Her little body spasmed and shuddered in obvious pain, and it was only then that Rapunzel really noticed the burnt, black hole in her chest.

“Shh, shh,” Rapunzel held the child close to her protectively. “It’s okay. You’re okay…”

“I want my mama,” Cassandra wept. The tips of the Black Rocks are retracting in and out of her skin, and it makes Rapunzel’s stomach churn when she watches the skin split, mend, and then split again until it stops mending entirely and just leaves open scans along her arms.

“Sweetie,” Rapunzel cups one of Cassandra’s tear stained cheeks and makes her look at her. “Your mother isn’t…here right now, but I promise that you’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Cassandra is frozen for just a moment before she’s nuzzling into Rapunzel’s hand, which makes the princess momentarily wonder if this is actually her Cassandra. But then the girl opens her eyes and Rapunzel _knows_ , even if there’s only one storm grey iris she’s grown to seeing left.

“Y-you will?” Cassandra squeaked. She sets her tiny, blackened hand on top of Rapunzel and clung to one of her fingers- the burnt skin is scratchy and rough against the princess’, almost like scales.

“I will.” Rapunzel said.

Such a thing would never be enough to assure adult (or past) Cassandra, but it seems to be enough for her younger self, because, all of a sudden, Rapunzel’s arms are occupied by the child trying to nuzzle her way into her lap and loving embrace.

“I’ve got you,” Rapunzel murmured as she carefully stood up. She felt Cassandra’s arms go around her neck, and a few impromptu soldiers flinch, ready to attack if any form of asphyxiation was attempted. She glowered at them.

“Is she okay?” Eugene asked, hurrying over. Cassandra buried her face against Rapunzel’s neck and whimpered at his presence, which he may have found funny and a victory for their ongoing feud against each other if it weren’t for the current circumstance—and that the feud didn’t seem to be happening again any time soon.

“She’s pretty shell shocked,” Rapunzel said. She shifts Cassandra in her arms and set one hand on her back of her head tenderly. “Can you hold her for a moment? I kinda have to, you know,” She nodded for the stone still hovering and glowing in the air.

“Right! Yeah, of course,” Eugene said and so quickly handed Cassandra, who only squeaks softly in a form of resistance. She stares of up at him with her big, teary, multicolored eyes. “Hey there.”

Cassandra just blinks. And then she sneezes and Black Rocks uproot themselves just behind Eugene. He leapt forward with a grimace and glared at the people who once again raised their weapons to hurt Cassandra.

“That’s, uhh, new.” He said. “And so are these roots! Now THAT is a fashion statement.”

His attempt at humor works in his favor when Cassandra giggled softly. That, however, is cut off by a frightened squeal when crackles burst from where Rapunzel is standing. She burrowed her face against Eugene’s chest and Eugene set one hand over her hand protectively. A moment later, the magical surge dies down and Rapunzel steps back with the stone held securely in her fist. She’s quick to take Cassandra back into her arms.

“Princess,” Someone spoke up- Monty. His soft, friendly features were replaced with hatred and anger. “What are you doing with that filth?”

“I’m taking her inside,” Rapunzel replied fiercely.

“Even after what she’s done to your home?” Adira joined in with a wide gesture to all the damage around them. Cassandra blinked at her with wide eyes and Adira can’t even look at the discoloration in her irises. It sickens the warrior.

“I will decide her fate tomorrow.” Rapunzel announced. “Come to the courtyard at dawn. You will hear the news then.” She said this with the firmest voice she could muster, hoping to convince the people of her giving Cassandra a demise in the torture dungeon to make them lay off for the moment, and it seemed to work. “We will also discuss the affairs and repairs of our home. But for now, rest. You all were very brave today.”

With that, Rapunzel turned and strode inside, Eugene following after her quickly. In her arms, she feels Cassandra tense up and whimper, but she just assumed it was out of fear and gently rubbed her back to soothe her. Perhaps she would have known what was really causing Cassandra distress or, rather, pain if her unruly hair wasn’t covering up the small, ram-like horn buds slowly inching their way out of her skull.


End file.
